76C Use of different accounting policies within a group of companies.

(1) (a) In this section “tax advantage” means—

(i) a reduction, avoidance or deferral of any charge or assessment to tax, including any potential or prospective charge or assessment, or

(ii) a refund of or a payment of an amount of tax, or an increase in an amount of tax refundable or otherwise payable to a person, including any potential or prospective amount so refundable or payable.

(b) For the purposes of this section, a series of transactions is not prevented from being a series of transactions in relation to companies by reason only of the fact that one or more of the following is the case—

(i) there is no transaction in the series to which both those companies are parties;

(ii) that parties to any arrangement in pursuance of which the transactions in the series are entered into do not include one or both of those companies;

(iii) there are one or more transactions in the series to which neither of those companies is a party.

(2) Where—

(a) a company within the charge to tax under Case I or II of Schedule D prepares accounts in accordance with international accounting standards,

(b) another company within the charge to tax under Case I or II of Schedule D, being a company which is an associated company (within the meaning of section 432) of the company referred to in paragraph (a), prepares accounts in accordance with Irish generally accepted accounting practice,

(c) there is a transaction between, or a series of transactions involving, those companies, and

(d) a tax advantage would, apart from this section, accrue to the company which prepares its accounts in accordance with international accounting standards compared with its position if it had prepared its accounts in accordance with Irish generally accepted accounting practice in relation to the transaction or series of transactions,

then the Corporation Tax Acts shall apply for the purposes of computing profits or gains of that company from that transaction or series of transactions as if that company prepared its accounts in accordance with Irish generally accepted accounting practice.